Real Health Podcast: 'I grew up thinking I had an illness called terminal uniqueness' writer Stefanie Preissner on the pressures of success

Best-selling author, screenwriter and playwright, Stefanie Preissner, has been called the voice of her generation, writing about issues of stress, anxiety and confidence for Irish 20-something females and she joins me on this week’s Real Health podcast.

Stefanie tells me why 0430am starts are best for her but why we should stop fetishising hard work and stress.  She also talks about the success of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope and why her work resonates so strongly.

“I grew up thinking I had an illness called terminal uniqueness,” she says.  “But the more specific I am about my experiences in my writing the more they actually resonate with people because I’m just a pumpkin spice latte-loving bitch like everyone else!”

“Female voices are starting to resonate across the world now.  Progress is glacial and sometimes it feels like it’s one step forwards, two steps back.  Women need the right to be mediocre, fail and make mistakes but with more opportunities there’s more pressure on us to do things brilliantly from the start.”

Plus Stefanie explains why social media was forcing her into a world of perfection that wasn’t real and forced perspective is sometimes needed.

“Sometimes it feels like everyone is talking about you online and that’s just ego and you need to check it.  It’s easy to get sucked into the bubble.  The world will go on without you.  It takes a lot less energy to be honest than trying to maintain a façade of bravado.”

“You’re under pressure to show up in a way that is #aspiring #aspirational #motivational and present a version of your life that is perfect and it’s not.  To anyone looking, my life was amazing.  But I was uploading myself out of reality.”

Keep sending your questions in to me via email [email protected] or contact Karl on Twitter and Instagram @karlhenryPT.

The Real Health podcast with Karl Henry in association with Laya Healthcare.

Listen to the show on the SoundCloud player or subscribe and rate via the following links:

iPhone users can subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts.

Android users can subscribe and listen on Google Podcasts.

Or listen on SoundCloud

And we’re on Spotify

Source: Read Full Article